


I Gave It All

by orphan_account



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Credence sings and plays piano, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Inspired by Music, M/M, Music, Obscurus (Harry Potter), Panic Attacks, Piano, Sorry Not Sorry, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:11:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9289757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Newt Scamander becomes bored and wrestles while aboard his ship back to London. In a last minute decision to go exploring on the crowded boat, he comes across something (or someone) he never would've expected to see, and gets to hear some entrancing music along the way(Inspired by the song I Gave It All by Aquilo)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone enjoys this!! Sorry for any mistakes!

 

The sound of a ship horn blaring loudly wakes Newt from his slumber. It had been a day since he said goodbye to Tina and set course for England, and he was finding it rather difficult to accommodate himself with the odd sounds and motions of the boat. As he lies in his cabin, he can feel his bed rocking back and forth as they travel over choppy waves, making the walls creak ever so slightly.

Newt pushes himself to a sitting position, attempting to rub some of the sleep from his eyes. With a quick glance to the clock, he sees it's still rather early. Too early for him to be awake when all he has to do for the day is feed his animals, which will undoubtedly take less than an hour. With a sigh, he rolls out of his bed and makes his way over to his case, knowing he probably won't be able to catch a few more hours of sleep now that he's awake.

As expected, it takes just under an hour to feed all of his creatures. When he emerges back into his ship cabin he changes into some suitable clothing and goes to search for some breakfast, and hopefully a few other activities to keep him occupied.

Newt isn't very fond of having to leave his case in the room, but he knows that after such an eventful week, his creatures need a bit of space so that they can settle back in to their environments, and dragging them around won't do any good. The odds of having them stolen are low, but even then Newt makes sure to lock the door on his way out.

Breakfast is fairly uneventful, and the hours following it are equally boring. Newt tries to make small talk with a few of the passengers, but he gives up after realizing how hard it is to bite his tongue about the wizarding world in the company of muggles. That, and the fact that he's never been particularly sociable.

By the time lunch rolls around he's practically bursting at the seems with static energy. Newt has never been one to sit still for very long, and that's how he finds himself drifting towards the closed off part of the ship.

When he and the other passengers boarded, they were told that certain levels of the ship weren't open to the public. The ship was larger than any he'd ever sailed on before, but due to the lack of staff and people traveling aboard, they closed some areas so that it wouldn't create extra mess for the small number of workers. It was a bit odd in Newt's opinion, but who is he to judge what muggles do.

No one notices him slip up the staircase to the top deck of the ship, but he still makes sure to be quiet in case there's any staff lurking about.

The first room he comes across doesn't seem to serve any purpose, and is virtually empty.

“Well that's not much fun, is it?” he whispers to himself before quickly continuing to the next room.

He's always been an adventurous person, so he marvels in the rush he gets from sneaking along the empty corridors of the ship. It's not much compared to the thrill of finding a new creature, but Newt will take anything he can get at this point.

His eye's widen a bit when he opens the next door. It seems to be a small ballroom, from the looks of the fancy carpeting and ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

He steps inside and closes the door quietly behind himself. If he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine couples twirling around him to the beat of soft music, dressed in ruffled gowns and sharp suits.

He's so caught up in the vision that he jumps when he feels a soft tug on his sleeve. Newt looks down to see Picket crawling up his arm, and he laughs at himself for forgetting about the small bowtruckle hiding in his pocket. Picket pauses when he reaches Newts shoulder, then gestures his head towards the other end of the room with a soft squeak. Newt glances in the direction, and sees a door hiding in the corner of the room. He looks back down at Picket for conformation, and the creature only squeaks again and tugs the collar of his shirt in the direction of the door.

With cautious steps, Newt makes his way across the room until he stops at the door. Picket continues to tug his shirt collar, but Newt tries his best to ignore him for the time being.

What lies behind the door that seems to have caught the small creatures attention?

With only the slightest bit of hesitancy, Newt presses his ear to the hard wood, wondering if the bowtruckle heard something that he did not when they entered the ballroom. Many of his creatures have very sharp hearing, much better than Newt's, so he wouldn't be surprised if his small friend picked up on a sound or movement he hadn't caught.

To his surprise, the sound if piano drifts through the solid wood, barely audible through the dense material. It's not the soft melody that catches his attention, but the voice accompanying it. Newt has never heard a sound so utterly intriguing in his life. It was smooth as honey and rough as jagged stones all at once, and he finds himself pressing closer to the door in an attempt to catch more of the alluring song.

He doesn't know what causes him to do it, but a second later he's slowly turning the doorknob, pushing it opened ever so slightly. As he peeks through the small crack, he sees what must be the area that they store the instruments for the ballroom. And there, lodged tightly in the corner is a small piano with a man sitting in front of it. He's shrouded in the shadows, so Newt can't make out his features, but something about them hunch of his back seems almost... familiar. The way his hands glide across the smooth keys, just as his voice slips through the air, the only sound in an otherwise silent room.

Newt watches the silhouette in a trance, standing there for what feels like hours, but realistically is only a minute or two. He's so caught up in the music that he's startled when it finally comes to an end. The moment the voice stops, it's as if a veil has been lifted, and Newt suddenly realizes that he's intruding on the strangers privacy. He prepares himself to sneak back out of the room before he's noticed, not wanting to ruin the mans solitude.

Perhaps he would've done just that, if it weren't for Picket, who was now sticking halfway out of his coat pocket, as if trying to urge Newt closer to the stranger. The second Newt makes a move to turn around, the creature lets out a load squeak, startling not only Newt, but also the boy at the piano.

The shadow freezes, hands hovering above the keys as if he was just about to start a new song. Slowly he turns around, allowing Newt to see his face for the first time.

This time it's Newt who pauses as he'd been struck.

It's...It's _Credence_.

Credence, who he'd sworn he saw shot down by multiple wizards until nothing was left. Credence, who had cowered from him in the shadows of a subway tunnel as Newt attempted to coax him out of his hunched position. Credence, who had been beaten down by not only his mother, but by the world itself. Credence, who had tried so hard to suppress his own magic that it had turned inward on itself, creating black wisps of rage and fear.

He should be dead. If not from the wizards reining down their magic on him, from the obscurus inside him, slowly tearing his life force apart.

And yet here he was in front of Newt, alive as ever.

Newt takes an involuntary step forward, thoughts swirling too quickly in his head for him to decipher.

The second he moves closer to Credence, the boy shoots up from his spot at the piano and cowers away from Newt until his back hits the wall behind him, never breaking eye contact. His body shakes like a leaf, and it suddenly dawns on Newt that Credence must be _afraid_ of him.

He's never thought of himself as someone who draws fear from others, not even when he fought in the war, but given the circumstances, he supposes Credence is probably afraid of almost everyone.

“Credence?” he asks softly, although he already knows the answer.

The boy just draws in further on himself, trying to put as much distance between him and Newt as possible. It reminds Newt of the way a creature acts when he first finds it, often times in captivity. They tend to cower away, unsure of whether they will be the one lashing out at him, or if he will be the one lashing out at them. Newt has never been very good with humans, so he does the only logical thing he can think to do; approach Credence just like he would with any of his creatures.

First he takes a slow step backwards, not wanting to frighten the boy as he watches Newt like a hawk, eyes wide with fear and a hint of something else he can't quite pin. He needs to figure out a way to engage Credence without causing the boy to startle, as that may result in disastrous things.

Surely, bringing up the obscurus is a terrible idea, so Newt quickly crosses that off the list. Perhaps he could ask what the boy is doing on a ship to London, but even that may be considered asking to much when Credence already seems to be on the verge of a panic attack.

Newt knows he needs to say something soon, so he decidedly picks a topic that he hopes doesn't hold too much weight.

“The song. I mean, the one you were just playing. It was really quite beautiful.”

Credence just stares at him, but Newt sees a hint of surprise flicker across his features. He doesn't show much of a reaction other than that, but no reaction is better than a negative reaction in Newts book, so he decides to continue.

“Honestly, I had no idea you could play the piano. It was brilliant.”

Still no reaction. At this point Newt fears he may just start spouting words and not be able to stop. He's never been very good at holding up conversation, especially when it's one sided.

“The singing too, that was amazing. I can't sing for the life of me. I once tried singing one of my creatures a lullaby, but it ended up running away before I could finish.”

Yes, now he seems to be starting the downward spiral of endless blabbering, to which he has no idea to put an end once he's begun. He had been planning on approaching Credence like he approaches any other frightened creature, but he realizes one of the major flaws in his plan is the fact that the boy can actually _understand_ the words coming out of his mouth. It's not enough to just simply sound comforting while slowly edging himself towards the cowering figure. He needs to choose his words eloquently, which makes his sheer lack of social skills all the more unhelpful.

“No really, one minute Herman was in my arms ready to fall asleep, and the next he was all the way on the other side of the pasture. Ever since then I've decided to refrain from any sort of musical interaction. Did you know Nifflers are fond of music boxes? I have about nine of them in my suitcase already. Oh silly me, I'm sure you don't even know what a Niffler is. You see, it's sort of like a platypus...”

Newt finally feels the dam break, and the words stream out of him in an attempt to calm his own nerves and fill the silence. He continues to talk for far longer than he originally planned, going into a detailed explanation on why Nifflers are drawn to shiny things, and ending up telling the story of the first time his Niffler found a music box.

“It just...it just sat there for _hours._ Granted, I have a short attention span, but what could possibly be so fascination about a miniature ballerina spinning around in circles?” he asks to no one in particular.

He'd almost forgotten Credence was there, and when he focuses on the boy again, he's surprised to see he's now sitting on the floor, knees tucked close to his chin. Tremors no longer rack is slim frame, and he doesn't seem to be cowering away as much as he first was. Newt considers this to be a positive reaction, which only urges him to keep talking (more than he already is).

After about an hour of spewing an endless mantra of information on creatures and the magical world in general, Newts throat is starting to feel raw. Credence hasn't moved from where he's tucked up in the corner, but Newt decided quite some time ago that it wouldn't startle the boy too much if he took a seat next to the piano. Initially, Credence became tense and Newt feared he had evaluated the situation wrongly, but as he continued his story about the time one of his mooncalves got loose in a cow pasture, the other boy slowly relaxed.

Suddenly, just as Newt is beginning to run ideas of what to talk about next through his mind, Credence speaks up for the first time.

“W-what is that?”

Newt freezes in confusion before he finally notices Picket making his way across the surface of the wooden piano. After the initial bought of shock that sweeps over him towards the fact that Picket never, _never_ , leaves his side willingly, despite his efforts, he regains his ability to speak.

“Why, that's Pickett, my bowtruckle. He's really quite friendly.”

Credence shifts slightly, almost as if he's about to reach out to the small creature, but then his eyes dart over to Newt and he snaps back into his previous position.

“You know,” Newt says, weighing each word carefully, “it's alright if you'd like to hold him. He won't bite.”

_“And neither will I,”_ he thinks sadly.

Credence's eyes flit between Newt and Pickett a few times before he finally moves, just enough to hold a shaking hand out towards the bowtruckle. As Pickett crawls gently onto Credence's index finger, Newt's gaze can't help but be drawn to the dark lines and fading scars littering Credence's hands.

A flurry of emotions run through his chest at the sight of them, but he contains it. Frightening the boy when he's finally starting to open up would be a poor decision on his part.

Pickett makes his way up Credence's arm until he's resting comfortably on the boys shoulder. Credence stays stock-still, as if he's afraid he might crush the creature. Newt can't help but let out a light chuckle.

“You know, it's alright to move. Despite his size, he's actually very hard to crush.”

As if to prove his point, Pickett jumps up to Credence's hair, swinging from a strand haphazardly. Although it's only been about a week since Newt has seen him, the boys haircut has grown out a bit, making a few pieces stick up in an unruly fashion.

Credence looks up at Newt again, startled. His eyes barely make contact before they're looking back down at his feet, but at least he seems to realize that he won't hurt the creature by moving. Ever so slowly, he begins to shuffle closer to Newt.

Newts heart skips a beat, not expecting Credence to come near him any time soon. It's a pleasant turn of events. He slides over the the end of the piano bench so that there will still be room in between them when( _if_ )Credence decides to sit down.

After a few tense seconds of the boy standing stiffly next to the chair, Pickett grabs onto his hair from where he's now sitting comfortably atop his head and tugs it towards Newt. The gesture is similar to the one he used when he was trying to get Newt to go towards the room earlier, and Newt finds a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

At the bowtruckle's urging, Credence finally sits down at the piano next to Newt. He's just as stiff as he was earlier, probably all too aware of their close proximity and itching to go back to his previous spot, across the room where Newt couldn't reach him.

He tries to think of something that will take Credence's mind off of his current thoughts. Possibilities float through his own head, but he doesn't want to bore the boy by going off on another rant about his creatures. Despite his flawed social skills, he knows that most people don't want to hear about his profession in magizoology more than absolutely necessary.

Newt's mind keeps going back to the song he heard Credence singing earlier. He had no idea that someone so seemingly quiet could make such a beautiful sound. When he sang it was like he was a different person; confident and unfaltering and still so full of sadness and anger, but letting the emotions flow through his words, down to the keys of the piano, instead of exploding into the obscurus and wreaking havoc.

Newt wanted to see him become that person again.

“Do you think you could show me another song? I didn't mean to interrupt you earlier. In fact, I would enjoy it very much if you were to continue.”

“You want me to play a song for you?” Credence says quietly, as if he's not quite sure he heard Newt correctly.

“Please.” Newt replies with a nod.

Credence stays still for so long that Newt thinks he may have crossed some sort of line or made him withdraw on himself, but suddenly there are shaking hand resting on the smooth keys, pressing down to fill the room with the sound of a single chord.

The silence that follows is quickly overcome by the sound of another chord, then another, then another. Newt is so fascinated by the way Credence's scared hand move over the keys, he almost jumps straight out of his seat in shock when the boy begins to sing.

_This glass, it breaks_

_So delicate it shatters 'round my feet_

_And my hands, they bleed_

_A stain I'll always remember_

_A stain that stays with me_

Newt is struck by the lyrics, eyes snapping up to Credence's face, only to see it grow increasingly calmer as the song carries on. His eyes are shut, giving Newt a chance to properly look at him for the first time today.

Dark circles lie underneath his eyes, and his cheek-bones seem a little more prominent than they already were to begin with, but overall he seems... well, not okay, but surely on his way there.

The song continues, and it's like nothing Newt has ever heard before. He's encountered the smooth jazz flowing freely through the walls of taverns, and the stunning voices of women singing opera at the theaters, but never has he listened to a song as filled with emotion as the one Credence sings.

Newt slips back into a trance, similar to the one he was in before. The air resonates with the sound of soft piano, and a voice as smooth as honey singing lyrics filled with anguish and memories. He's surprised surprised when the music slowly comes to a stop, and finds himself wishing that the boy would just keep singing.

He sits still in the chair, distantly aware of Credence's body pressing against his own. It seems that they had somehow ended up next to each other during the period of time in which the song was being played.

Much to Newts pleasure, Credence doesn't seem to be nearly as tense and jittery as he was before. He doesn't move away from Newt or tense up every time one of them shifts.

“Did...did you like it?” Credence asks apprehensively.

“Credence, that was one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.”

Credence's face flushes slightly, a rosy pink tint that Newt finds slightly endearing.

“Do you have any more that you could show me?” he continues.

Credence nods again ever so slightly, and Newt stifles his laughter when he sees a glimpse of Pickett perching atop the boys dark hair. He silently thanks the bowtruckle for helping them get this far. If it wasn't for the small creature, Newt would've never found Credence, let alone be sitting next to him.

Battered hands reach up to the piano keys once again, and Newt allows all the questions and concerns he has towards Credence fall into the back of his mind.

For now, all that matters is the gentle melody filling the air, reminding each of them that everything will be okay in the end.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The first song Credence sings to Newt is: I Gave It All - Aquilo  
> and the second one I envisioned him singing at the end is: Heal - Tom Odell


End file.
